Henry John Stephen Smith

Henry John Stephen Smith
FRS FRSE FRAS
Born(1826-11-02)2 November 1826
Dublin, Ireland
Died9 February 1883(1883-02-09) (aged 56)
Oxford, Oxfordshire, England[1]
Resting placeSt Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Known forSmith–Minkowski–Siegel mass formula
Smith normal form
Smith–Volterra–Cantor set
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford

Henry John Stephen Smith (2 November 1826 – 9 February 1883) was an Irish mathematician and amateur astronomer remembered for his work in elementary divisors, quadratic forms, and Smith–Minkowski–Siegel mass formula in number theory. In matrix theory he is visible today in having his name on the Smith normal form of a matrix. Smith was also first to discover the Cantor set.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ GRO Register of Deaths: MAR 1883 3a 511 OXFORD – Henry John S. SMITH, aged 56
  2. ^ Smith, Henry J.S. (1874). "On the integration of discontinuous functions". Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. First series. 6: 140–153.
  3. ^ Fleron, Julian F. (1 April 1994). "A Note on the History of the Cantor Set and Cantor Function". Mathematics Magazine. 67 (2): 136–140. doi:10.1080/0025570X.1994.11996201 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.
  4. ^ The Cantor Set Before Cantor Mathematical Association of America